A Part of Becoming Older
by tigress345
Summary: Sometimes, growing up has its benefits, other times it only makes life more complicated. As a teenage Katherine sits down in Ombric's library wishing to amuse herself, a familiar spirit from the past visits, showing her just how much more complicated things can become with time. One-Short. Rated T for caution.


**A Part Of Becoming Older**

She hadn't been expecting him.

For years now, he had been hidden; possibly far too humiliated and maddened by his thirst for vengeance to show up. Of course, his disappearance had never truly ridden her from her nightmares, but he was no longer lurking in the shadows. No longer making ridiculous offers. Trying to infiltrate her mind and get into her system.

Instead, he'd been silent. Too silent. For years now. So many years, in fact, that Ombric had stopped attempting to keep her his little girl. She was a grown woman now. She'd been allowed that much, at least. In a way, it had been her own doing; sneaking into North's place and allowing her dream to come true. Part of her wanted to grow up. Even though, in hindsight, that had been a pretty silly thing to wish for. After all, now that she was stuck with every womanly problem a female of her physical age might encounter and her days could prove excruciating at times.

So perhaps drinking a potion that was labelled as _tractatori temporis_ hadn't been the brightest choice. Though could you blame her? Who knew that being Mother Goose could become so... dull, at times.

Of course, she liked her position. She liked being a Guardian. She liked protecting children. Enjoyed being with her friends, out of harm's way. Yet, without the ever-present Shade to provide a challenge for her, there seemed nothing to do as of recent. Earth seemed stable. Then again, the Guardians had just rid the world of the spirit of Fear yet again. In fact, from what she had heard, they have done a lot more than that.

'Perhaps too much,' she thought. The moment the thought popped up, she pushed it away.

Too much? They had only been protecting the children of Earth! What was so wrong with that?! They've harmed no one that hadn't deserved it. Pitch had deserved it. Even he ought to have seen that coming.

Katherine looked down at the desk, her eyes gliding over the pages of the book in front of her.

She had taken it out not too long ago. Yet, she was already bored. It seemed that even Ombric didn't have a library large enough to keep her distracted in her free time. With all the new Guardians, she had plenty of free time...

"Now that is a dull book," a familiar voice commented from behind her back. Drawled, more like. She could easily recognize that voice anywhere.

'Pitch?'

She heard a chuckle. One that still had the capability of send chills down her spine. Looking up from her book, she turned around to face the supposed King of Nightmares himself. She froze when she finally saw his face.

He looked different. That was definite. He seemed to have managed to tame his hair. Still raven-black, glossy and feathery, but far less out of place and messy. His eyes seemed bright with amusement, but then again, they always seemed that way around her. Especially when he tried to make her his-

"If you are looking for a Darkling Princess, then you should move along," she retorted, narrowing her eyes at him.

His only response was a sly smirk, with the corners of his lips twisting upwards into a wicked ark, showing off his serrated teeth. They didn't seem that bad anymore. Not quite as jagged. Or yellow. 'And his breath doesn't stink,' she couldn't resist thinking, but didn't have the courage nor foolishness to utter the words out loud.

Then, Pitch chuckled again.

She raised an eyebrow. What could he have possibly found so amusing? Had she said her thoughts out loud?

"Same old Katherine," he commented, with a teasing edge to his voice.

It was really quite a wonder that he had recognized her. After all, she had changed quite a bit. Her hair for one was a lot tamer and a slightly darker in colour. She was taller, graced with the curves that came to all females with age. No longer that adorable little girl she had once been, she was sure that she would come across as a peculiar sight. Though, it seemed hard to impress the smug creature standing in front of her.

'Still towering over me,' she noted, irked by the fact.

"Looks as though you haven't changed either," she spoke back, standing up. Even then, she was several inches shorter. "What _are_ you doing here, anyway?"

"Is that how you treat acquaintances?" he asked, instead of answering her question. It seemed so typical of him.

"No, that's how I treat the man that plagued my mind with nightmares," Katherine answered, rolling her eyes. "For a damnably long time."

"You aren't still mad about that?" he cooed, feigning innocence. Oh, she was. About as mad as she was now, feeling his intense, eagle-like gaze on her as he trailed down her aged figure. "After all, it has been quite some time. Surely you know to forgive and forget. You can't be mad at me forever."

She looked away then, feeling somewhat uncomfortable. About his words, the way he spoke. His watchful eyes, the way he observed her every movement. One had to be wary around the boogeyman.

"If you care so much about forgiveness, you wouldn't have done what you had," she muttered, looking down at the floor instead.

He stepped closer, placing a hand on her shoulder. She flinched at the contact but didn't move away. Part of her didn't want to walk away. So many other people have? Why should she be just another of those that have given up on him?

"If I haven't done what I had, the two of us would have perhaps never met," Pitch murmured in a soft voice.

Something leaped up inside Katherine's torso. Warm and exciting. A prickling sensation of sorts. "What do you care about me?" she asked, in a much quieter voice.

"You've always been an interesting girl, Katherine," he whispered, leaning closer. "Such a shame you chose them, over me."

She sighed. "Can't you leave me be?" she asked, in a small voice. "For once?"

"No." His voice was resolute. "Not after what you had done."

"What have I done that is so evil that even the Nightmare King took notice?" She had little patience now. If he continued this way, stealing her personal space and intruding her life, she would most definitely try and push him away. Or she could just take that book from the table and hit him with it. It wasn't a particularly well-written piece of fiction anyway. About as valuable as 2 months old, worn out socks. About as interesting too, come to think of it. She had only taken it out because of her desperation to find _something_ to read.

His fingers dug into her shoulders. "Do you not remember?" he hissed. "The pain you have caused me?!" His voice was still much at the same level, the anger being veiled by a pretended calmness. A pretence easily seen through. She could almost feel the despair in his voice.

Looking back at the past, sifting through her memories, she realized that he was in the right. She _had_ , in fact, caused him pain. In hopes of stopping him, at an attempt to make him remember. To get answers. She had hurt him more than anyone had. Yet, how could she have known what she had been messing with?

"I was a little girl at the time. You had endangered my friends, Pitch," she defended herself. Though remorse still curled up inside her heart, pushing up tears to the surface. She hadn't meant to. "I had no idea..."

He must have been fuming. Katherine was certain that he was glaring at her now, his eyes like daggers piercing through her body.

"That you were. A stupid girl."

She only nodded, not wishing to anger him. Of course, part of her felt like calling out to the Guardians. Crying for help. She wanted to push him away and run. She didn't want this.

"Yet you felt sympathy for me." His voice softened now. He released his grip. "In spite of everything I had been, everything I am..."

"N-no one deserves to be alone," Katherine remarked. Her voice trembled, though she did not know why. Something tightened in her chest. Did she still pity him? Felt sympathy for the devil after all those years?

He seemed as shell-shocked by those words as he had been when she had hugged him back _then_. It was a strange look on him. She was sure he would still have that same expression on his face as he did in the past when she had surprised him with something. Certain because of his silence and the feeling of tension.

It was then she deemed it safe enough to look back into his eyes. And she had been right. That same look on him. You wouldn't have thought he was the villain if you saw him like that. She wouldn't have thought it herself. It looked so strange on him, the surprise. The melancholy. The innocent confusion. All written on his face.

"It must be so lonely, being a King without subjects; a leader without respect. All the power in the world and yet no amount can grant you friends. Family," she continued, her voice softening as she watched him stand there, frozen. "But why, Pitch? When you can have all the friends you may want without it. Why choose power over understanding?"

She could see him swallow, hear it too, audibly so.

"You live in a fairy tales, little one," he responded, hesitant. "Those lies- do you really believe them? Of a world full of understanding? A world without outcasts?"

She tilted her head. She'd been told so by Ombric. She'd heard of the ways in which power corrupts. Without it, surely the world would be a better place then?

"Even if I were weak, I would be hated. I always had been," Pitch continued, a voice tinged with sorrow. "After all, what sort of a man is a spirit whose aim is to spread fear? Who's role in the world is to send chills to the hearts of grown men? Who would accept a hero fallen from grace, a man of shadows and darkness? Who cares about those that live in the dark? The ones alone feared and hated. I have only my nightmares. The other fearlings once too. Yet none of them cared. As for my nightmares, the only one who ever cared was stolen from me. The only child who ever dared show sympathy was forbidden to me." He laughed bitterly at that last part. "And yet, I am, speaking to her right now. The only child that dared embrace her biggest fears."

"I thought Jamie managed that too..." she murmured, watching the light in his eyes grow dimmer with each passing second. Clearly, that hadn't been a right thing to say.

"The Bennett child? No, he fought his fear. He resented and rebelled. He forgot his fear," he corrected her, his voice fading out. "He forgot. His words... his words were...

...were...

Lies!"

Lashing out, he stepped back, seething with fury. The fear returned to Katherine, as she backed away.

He'd realized it then. His mistake. Just as she seemed desperate enough to simply turn tail and flee - how un-Katherine-like - it became unmistakably clear that he had been a fool.

So he pulled her in toward him, just before she could actually run. Holding her firmly, not wanting to let go. She was still his Katherine. Grown up now, yes. A little different, but she was still Katherine. Albeit a little more sarcastic, a little less forgiving, she was the same Katherine that had shown him pity and sympathy time and time again. He didn't want her to run. Her acceptance, after all, felt better than her resentment and her fear.

Looking up through freshly formed tears, her eyes seemed so wide when she looked at him. Still the same, wise, innocent, blue-grey eyes peered at him. A subtle feeling of warmth nestled in his chest, as she returned the embrace, wrapping her arms around him.

This time, he didn't freeze. He melted instead, sighing a little.

After a while of staying like that; completely still and all too content in one another's arms, Katherine pulled away slightly. "You do realize that Ombric will be looking for me soon enough?"

"And...?"

She scowled playfully. "So you're just going to leave me in this alone?" she chastised. "He'll kill me if he finds out I've been hugging the boogeyman again. What if he finds the two of us together? You know you can't be here."

He shrugged. "So be it. The old man can shout at me and threaten me all he wants."

She shook her head. "And you wonder why he keeps me away from you."

"What? Have I said something wrong?"

She sighed. "Never mind..." It wasn't uncommon with males anyway. She broke off for a while, realizing that he never really had explicitly stated his reasons for being here.

"Pitch?"

"Hmm?" The raven-haired man looked down at her with a fond look. He'd always treasured a child's curiosity. Even this grown-up child had retained it. She seemed to be so sweet then, with that youthful look in her face.

"You never did say why you came here," she reminded him.

He smiled a little. "Does it matter?" he inquired. "I didn't come here to kidnap you, defeat Ombric or take over the world, if you're still worried about that."

"Very funny," she muttered sarcastically.

"Though, if you are itching to know," he added, pausing a little. He managed to catch the eye-roll that Katherine sent him again, chuckling a little. "I came to see you."

"Me?"

"Who else? Ombric?" Pitch reached a hand out to her face, brushing away a few strands of hair. More out of curiosity, wanting to feel the texture, wanting to know how someone else might feel against his skin. For so long he hadn't been near anyone. Not this close. Not to someone who hadn't despised him. Then again, they do say: _keep your friends close, but your enemies closer._ And he'd been doing just that for years now. Only to feel so terribly lonely.

"Why?" _'Why did you come here? Why me? Why are you touching me? Why do I like this...? Why do I like being so close to you?'_

"I wanted to see you. To know if you'd grown any. In mind if not in body," he explained in a gentle voice. Up until this very day, she hadn't heard many nice things from him. She had to admit, he sounded so much more approachable than when he was angry and vengeful. He seemed almost human. Like any other man. She shivered at the thought. Not that it was unpleasant. But coming from her, thinking of him, it was a strange notion. He wasn't like any other man. He was the spirit of fear. She should fear him, as such. She should think him unpleasant. Nonetheless hearing him talk made her giddy. It was a charming kind of voice that he had. When he wasn't scheming, or trying to trick her. "I wondered if you still remember me. Still care..."

 _'I do care. I still care. I always have. If perhaps no, in the same way, I do now.'_

"Do you care?" Katherine posed the same question. She didn't need to, of course. Even he hadn't felt the same way she was feeling right now, he cared alright.

Still, he didn't answer. His eyes said it all. They had always been the doors to his Soul and heart, always open.

He did, of course. Though to say it out loud would be a sin in front of the Guardians. They weren't allowed to care for one another, if for any other reason than that the others disagree. Especially Aster. He would probably think she had gone mental if they knew of this. The Pookah never liked Pitch. He never would like Pitch. It was best they kept this a secret, unspoken, untold.

"How much do you care, Katherine?" he asked her, kneeling down in front of her. Begging her to say that she _did_ care for him. He wanted to hear it from her. Whatever would have sufficed, by the look of it, if she just admitted that she cared.

She'd never really seen him do that either. To fall before someone, ask for something. The King of Nightmares.

It was a strange thought, a king without a queen. A queen that could guide her king. Complete him. Her heart sped up. The surrealness of it all. A bit like in a book. With knights, princess, queens, and kings. Except for her Knight, her Prince, her King... was not in shining armour. Not anymore. It was no longer the caring Nightlight.

She was about to lean in. Lower her head. Kiss him. She would have, her eyes closing a little.

Creak...

The library's door opened.

"Katherine, are you here?" Ombric's voice echoed through the library.

She pulled away, startled.

She opened her eyes, blinking owlishly. As he'd never been there in the first place, Pitch vanished into thin air, not leaving a trace. There was nothing left of him.

Ombric meanwhile had found her, looking at her with a smile on his face. "Reading again?" he asked.

The moment was gone and she had to ask herself...

Had this been real? Or was this a part of her wild imagination, part of becoming older.

 **A/N – I know this may have struck several people as odd. However, I hope it was bearable. I found a prompt somewhere that made me think "why not?" Sure the pairing is rather unconventional, awkward and to some people, Katherine's newest feelings towards Pitch may even be _wrong_. Though so far, it is one-sided, with only Katherine liking the other this strongly. She's grown up, but she's not used to these emotions, not sure what to think of others now. Still, this is just an experiment, not meant to offend anyone. **


End file.
